Years after being granted a mining licence and following illegal mining on its concession, Canadian mining company Romanex is finally moving to begin mining for gold and is in the process of contracting another company to do so.
Guyana Frontier Mining Corp, the parent company of Romanex (Guyana) Explora-tion Limited last week announced that it has entered into a letter of intent (LOI) with Mulgravian Ventures (Guyana) Inc. (MVGI), whereby MVGI will manage the Marudi Mountain Gold Project.
“Management of Marudi Mountain will include a mining operation from the alluvial, elluvial and colluvial deposits on the property,” the statement said adding that in addition to the mining operation, MVGI will be responsible for managing Marudi Mountain’s camp infrastructure, logistics and security. “Guyana Frontier will maintain the responsibility of developing and advancing Marudi Mountain through its exploration activities relating to hard rock mining. The parties are currently preparing a definitive management agreement which will detail the terms of the agreement,” the statement said.
“In preparation of the mining operation and for property management purposes MVGI has begun mobilization of equipment to Marudi Mountain,” the statement added.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the company’s mining licence was being reviewed after it was learnt that Romanex and its predecessors had occupied the area for almost 20 years without ever having produced gold according to their original plans.
Gelly Gnissios, Director of Romanex Guyana and CEO of Guyana Frontier had told Stabroek News that it was a combination of issues that precluded the company commencing mining operations, chief among them being the issue of illegal miners. He had said the illegal mining raised safety and environmental concerns for Romanex. He also said that the company wanted to expand its prospective operations into larger deposits and hence was engaged in additional prospecting. He had revealed that the company is working with the GGMC to finalise its development plan for its operations.
Asked about the commencement of the mining operation, Gnissios had said it was too early to speak about the company’s prospects for the immediate future.
He said, however, that the size of the project will be in the neighbourhood of the Aurora gold project – a US$205 million operation spanning 22 years and a production of nearly 4.4 million ounces of gold.
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission had reported that a site visit revealed no mining or exploration on behalf of the company was ongoing, although the company had earlier committed to carrying out exploration activities within the early part of 2013. It said too, it was evident that no work is expected to commence on the property in the near future as the company had submitted no mining plan.
It was noted that the Marudi Mountain Mining Licence was granted to Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd on April 17, 2009 and that it existed before as a prospecting licence (large scale) from between 1990 and 2009.
Romanex, which was granted a licence to commence large-scale gold mining at Marudi, had indicated that mining would have started in 2009. The company had done its exploration work and said it would have produced between 50,000 and 100,000 ounces per year.
It obtained its licence through Vannessa Ventures Limited, which has since changed its name to Infinito Gold Limited. For several years, both companies had been conducting studies in the areas they intend to mine.
Because of the years of inactivity on the Marudi Mountain claim, small miners gradually moved into the area and had been pressing to be given clearance to commence mining legally.
Last month, residents of Aishalton, (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) blocked an excavator owned by Romanex from heading to the Marudi Mountains where they claimed it would be used in unauthorized alluvial mining.
Guyana Frontier is a public mineral exploration company focused on the exploration, discovery and development of precious metals deposits within Guyana.
Guyana Frontier began acquiring interests in local exploration properties in 2007, and now holds various rights to obtain working interests in approximately 184,225 acres (74,555 hec-tares) of prospective lands. Guyana Frontier’s goal is to develop a significant gold resource at its 100% owned Marudi Mountain.
